Using a Calculator/Transcript
Transcript Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby Tim is piloting a starship through space. A hostile craft is chasing the starship, shooting laser torpedoes. One hits the starship, making it rock and shake. Tim hits the intercom button on the arm of his pilot's chair. TIM: Moby, come in. A huge screen facing Tim shows Moby. Moby is welding a broken piece of equipment in the starship's engine room. TIM: How's that jump drive coming? Moby flips up his welder's mask. MOBY: Beep. Moby looks concerned. TIM: We don't have a few minutes. Calculate how long our shields will last and… MOBY: Beep. TIM: Computers are down? Oh, cool. This is a chance for me to use my new calculator. Tim produces a pocket calculator. TIM: I'll just turn it on. He presses the calculator's on button. Its screen reads: 3412.23. TIM: Huh. Looks like the last calculation I made is still on here. The "AC," or "all-clear," button erases everything from your last calculation. The button Tim describes lights up. Tim presses it, and it clears the numbers on the screen. TIM: Some calculators have a "C" button instead, but they do the same thing. The starship's large screen now shows the hostile spacecraft. It shoots another torpedo at Tim's starship, which shakes and rocks. MOBY: Beep. Moby reappears on the screen. He looks frightened and upset. TIM: All right, hold your horses. Now, our shields use up two and half liters of fuel per second. A small digital screen shows the status of the starship's shields. TIM: To figure out how many liters per minute that is, just type the equation in the same order you would write it on paper. So, two and a half, or 2.5, liters per second, times 60 seconds, equals 150 liters per minute. Tim presses the corresponding buttons on his calculator as he says the equation aloud. Text on the calculator reads: 150. TIM: I have a feeling we're going to need that number later, so I'll just save it in the calculator's memory. Tim pushes the calculator's "MS," or "memory," button to save the number 150. TIM: Next, we'll see how much fuel we have left. We filled both tanks, which carry 45,000 liters apiece. An animation on Tim's smaller screen shows the two full fuel tanks. TIM: So, 45,000 liters times two fuel tanks equals 90,000 liters. Tim does the equation on his calculator as he recites it aloud. The calculator reads: 90,000. TIM: Hey, we could have done that calculation with addition, too. I'll just clear everything. Tim presses the clear button. Text on the calculator clears to zero. TIM: 45,000 liters plus 45,000…whoops! Tim enters the numbers in the calculator as he says them aloud, but he makes a mistake and enters 46,000 instead of 45,000 for his second addend. TIM: If you make a mistake, you can use the "CE," or "clear entry," button to erase only the last number you've entered. Tim presses the CE button, and the 46,000 on his calculator's screen is cleared. He enters the number 45,000, and then hits the equals key. TIM: See? Same answer: 90,000 liters. Tim's calculator screen reads: 90,000. Another torpedo hits the starship, and it shakes and rocks. TIM: So, we started off with 90,000 liters, and according to our fuel gauge, we've got onethird of that left. The fuel gauge reads as Tim describes. TIM: One-third is about the same as 33.33 percent, so we can solve that on the calculator just like we would on paper: 90,000 times .3333 equals 29,997 , or about 30,000 liters of fuel. Tim's calculator reads: 29,997. Another torpedo hits his starship. An alarm goes off, and the control cabin where Tim is sitting is damaged. TIM: Now, if we divide our total fuel by the amount of fuel we use per minute, then we'll know how many more minutes our shields will stay up. To recall a number you've saved, just hit the "memory recall" button. Tim points to the MR, or memory recall, button. TIM: 29,997 divided by "memory recall" equals... Tim enters the equation as he says it aloud. When he presses the memory recall button, the number 150 is entered. TIM: Huh, just about 200 minutes. Tim's calculator screen reads: 199.98. TIM: Ha. We've got 200 minutes of shields left. Patch me through to that other ship over there. MOBY: Beep. TIM: By the way, you can erase the last number you put in the calculator's memory by hitting the "memory clear" button. Tim hits the MC, or memory clear, button. The calculator's screen still reads: 199.98. However, the calculator's memory is no longer storing the number 150. TIM: Most calculators have lots more buttons, too, so you should definitely read the instruction manual. The large screen before Tim shows static. Then a green alien creature with several eyes and tentacles appears. TIM: Attention, knucklehead alien captain. According to my calculations, we've got 200 minutes of shields left, so we've got nothing to fear from you. The screen splits in two. The alien creature remains on the right half of the screen, and Moby appears on the left. Moby looks distressed. MOBY: Beep. TIM: What? What do you mean the shields have already been up 195 minutes? MOBY: Beep. TIM: Oh. Moby disappears from the screen. The alien remains, and Tim speaks to it. TIM: Uh, I'm sorry about what I said before. I don't think you're a knucklehead. The alien stares at Tim, angry. The screen fades to black and a laser sounds. Category:BrainPOP Transcripts Category:BrainPOP Math Transcripts